Steve from the Firearm Blog wants to know, as a non-bra wearer, what women might think about a bra holster. I watched the video with an open mind, but watching it through a lens of “is this something that a woman could really wear every day (or even semi-regularly) and be somewhat comfortable” isn’t quite the same as trying to show how fast some chick on a range can flash the camera and pull out a gun.

I immediately noticed that something was off about her bra under that shirt. Sure, she’s wearing a somewhat form-fitting top, but it’s not that tight. While it’s not printing as obviously as some belt carry options, it may still attract unwanted attention in the form of men, women, and possibly children staring to figure out what, exactly, is wrong with a woman’s breasts. So they won’t likely figure out it’s a gun, but it’s still people staring at your chest and knowing something is off, that’s not attention most women I know would enjoy.

The holster is restricted to women with boobs. That’s not the end of a world for products, as a number of carry options for the waist are often restricted to women with hips or women without hips. Everyone is built differently, and that’s fine. But, it’s a reasonable question on how well it will fit a woman with the average bra size. (Last time I checked, it was like a 36C or somewhere in there.) Their ebay listing says they have them for sizes as small as 32B, but I have my doubts about what a B-cup can realistically conceal.

It doesn’t look like it will fit every bra. This may mean that a woman has to go out and buy all new bras. That isn’t cheap. Not to mention, some women find a bra that’s comfortable and stick with it. Granted, carrying on a belt may have many of the same challenges, but rarely are people as picky about their belt fit as women are about good bra fit.

The gun is going to poke some seriously uncomfortable places if you have to move around a lot or even bend down. Yes, this can be an issue with other on-body carry options, but I think it’s worth pointing out that this holster isn’t anything special. It’s the same problems, just in a very different area where tolerance for discomfort or adjustment may not be as high.

They illustrate this on a mannequin that doesn’t have squishy breasts and on a bra with no underwire. Considering the photo shows the barrel of the gun tucked into the left cup, this is a potential problem. One, if it sticks under there too far, ouch. Two, more than 2/3 of women wear underwire bras. Even if it is comfortable, a woman will probably have to shape the wires of her bra around it. It is also likely to push the ends of the underwire into unnatural and highly “pokey” positions. Ouch.

The underwire issue takes us back to the problem in point 1, visibility. If the gun is pushing an entire cup out from your body, it’s more likely to be visible that you have something under there. I didn’t study the video closely enough to see if their trial chick had on an underwire or not. I’ll leave that to you men.

Lord help you if you have an accidental discharge. Given the direction that the gun faces, if the holster isn’t incredibly tough, that would be mighty unpleasant.

8 Responses to “Flashbang Bra Holster: A Chick’s Perspective”

Sad we have to go through so much effort to hide our guns. Every layer of clothing is another barrier. Every odd place we have to put it so it doesn’t stick out makes it harder to get to. Instead of worrying if your boobs look funky, how much easier would it be that the only people you bothered were criminals and anti’s?

Saw that holster at the NRA Convention in Pittsburgh. Very interesting. You’re correct, Bitter, in that it would not work for all bra types. It would need to be a bra where the area between the two cups was no more than about an inch high. The holster is made specifically for the gun. No doubt the holster could be made for some of the hammerless revolvers, which might reduce some concerns that you suggested. The woman who designed the holster was wearing it at the convention; she was, I’d guess, about eight months pregnant. My guess is that is would work for most women of about a B cup and larger, so long as the woman was not wearing a form-fitting top. It would not work for a dress-wearer.

The thing that attracted me to it was that a woman could have access as a last line of defense. A case I’m familiar with was a young college woman attacked by a stranger, shoved face-first into the dirt. Even face-first on the ground, she could have reached up under her chest and and reached a gun in that bra holster. Could she have hit her assailant if she fired? Not likely, but firing the gun would have distracted him enough to give her a fighting chance.

As with every holster, it’s not for everyone, but I liked it. Years ago, I heard a holster manufacturer say that the thing to do is find and select the holster that works for YOU, and keep using the same one all the time so that finding your gun in a chaotic situation would be as familiar as finding the end of your nose.

The whole concept reminds of my grandmother who had a purse she kept in her bra for her “big bills”. I always remember her digging around to get it out. Given that she was born in the 1890s, it was probably a common thing for women of that area as was her corset.